AquaFrame

The AquaFrame is a reimagination of traditional gardening and agricultural practices that fits in perfectly with modern design and sustainability trends.

It is a sleek and compact vertical hydroponics system that perfectly balances aesthetics and Read more...

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What problem does your solution solve?

Millions of individuals around the world find that they would like to grow their own gardens, but that there is no space in their homes to do so. Current in-home gardening systems are getting more and more expensive and time consuming to set up and maintain.

Though hydroponics, a method of growing produce without soil, was created to solve such problems, current in-home hydroponic systems are simply too bulky and unappealing, and there is a high barrier of entry for customers to use them.

Our solution is the AquaFrame, a sleek and compact vertical hydroponics system that fits elegantly in your home. The AquaFrame solves all of the problems of traditional urban agriculture as well as the problems of in-home hydroponics systems by being sleek and modern, compact and portable, and low-maintenance and sustainable.

What’s the market potential for your solution?

There is tremendous potential in the development of hydroponics systems for urban households. The market for hydroponics is expected to triple to almost $725 million dollars by 2023, indicating that there exists immense potential for this industry.

We plan to initially sell to urban households, and then later expand to small businesses and interior design stores. Expanding to these markets would expand the opportunity of our company and allow us to tap into the market for interior design products as well. The market for interior design products is already over $100 million and is rapidly growing.

Who are your customers?

Our target customer is a woman in her 30s who lives in the city and loves the environment. She has a pretty significant disposable income (in terms of how much she is willing to spend on interior design products). Moreover, she would shop in stores such as Anthropologie and Crate and Barrel.

Currently, we sell on our website (www.getaquaframe.com). However, as soon as we get partnerships with local hydroponics manufacturers, we will expand to interior design stores. We will then start selling to small businesses and offices.

How will you reach your customers?

We plan to reach our customers through four different channels: social media, our website, door-to-door sales, and Google Ads.

First, we plan to be extremely active on our social media pages. On our posts, we plan to focus on the benefits of our product (such as its aesthetics, the social aspect of it, and the fact that it is low-maintenance) instead of its features. On our Instagram account, we plan to show our product in a minimalistic fashion, particularly with a white or marble background.

Since our website is our primary platform for sales at the moment, we plan to make our website as sleek as possible. The website currently looks very nice - it is simple and modern, just like our product.

Our third marketing and sales channel is door-to-door sales and word of mouth. This proves to be a very high yield method of sales.

Lastly, we plan to have Google Ad campaigns.

How will you make money?

We have two planned revenue streams: the AquaFrame and the AquaBox. The AquaFrame, our sleek and compact vertical hydroponics system, will be sold on our website for $495. The AquaBox, a subscription box that includes seeds, recipes, and maintenance equipment, will utilize the recurring revenue model. It will be priced at $22.50 every two months. While any consumer can buy the AquaBox, it is especially recommended for AquaFrame users. We anticipate a high number of AquaFrame users purchasing the AquaBox subscription, as in their eyes, we will likely be the only provider of the materials needed to take care of their AquaFrames.

What kind of partners will you need to make, support and distribute your solution?

We plan to partner with a number of companies. The first partnership that we require is a partnership with a hydroponics manufacturer. This partnership would allow us to mass-produce our AquaFrames and tap into new markets such as interior design stores. Secondly, we plan to partner with a custom packaging company so that we can buy our subscription boxes in bulk. Thirdly, we plan to partner with a nonprofit organization that supports the fair payment of outsourced labor, as we plan to donate a small percentage of our profit per sale to them. It has been proven that customers are over 40 times more likely to buy a product if a certain portion of sales are donated to charity. Lastly, we plan to partner with an Internet of Things (IoT) company in the future. This would allow us to be seen as more of a modern company, and would allow consumers to track the status of plants and ask their home devices about the needs of their hydroponics systems.

What will your expenses include?

Most of our expenses go to purchasing the parts for our AquaFrame. As of now, it costs around 60 dollars to build the AquaFrame. However, since we are selling the product as a luxury item, we would like to be able to produce a high-quality item at the lowest possible cost. If we were able to partner with providers for our materials, as well as manufacturers, our costs would be significantly lowered.

Additionally, since hydroponics is a relatively new industry, our customer acquisition costs are relatively high. Currently, we estimate our customer acquisition cost per AquaFrame to be around 90 dollars. Though are customer acquisition cost is significantly lower in the Silicon Valley and other environmentally conscious areas, it is higher in other parts of the country. If we could receive money to run effective marketing campaigns, we would make much more sales and reduce our customer acquisition cost in the long run.

Please email us at info@getaquaframe.com for more information.

Who is your competition and how do you differ?

AquaFrame has three main competitors: Grove, AeroGarden, and AmHydro. However, since our vertical hydroponics technology was designed by our team and is extremely new, we are completely different from our competitors.First, AeroGarden and AM Hydro are mostly designed for commercial purposes. As a result, they affect different target markets. Grove, however, has the same target market but is considered as both bulky and too pricey.

The three main problems with our competitors' products is that they are too bulky, unappealing, and have very high barriers to entry for consumers. Our product solves all of those problems: it is sleek and modern, compact and portable, and low-maintenance and sustainable. Lastly, we stand out because of our team. Rithvik Agastya has performed extensive hydroponics research in the past and has a hydroponics system at home. Jonathan Kao runs a hydroponics education program and has extensive experience with hydroponics. Together, they designed the AquaFrame.

Meet the Team

Open Pitch In Requests

Social Media Marketer

We are looking for a Social Media Whiz to help sell our product to consumers and make it look very nice. We would like to employ a minimalistic design in all of our social media posts (i.e. our product against a white or marble background).

Head of Sales and Strategy

We are looking for someone with extensive experience in sales and strategy to fulfill our role of Head of Sales and Strategy. This person would handle relations with manufacturers, as well as manage the sales channels of our product. Additionally, the Head of Sales and Strategy would be responsible for securing partnerships and sponsorships for the company, as well as finding new revenue streams.

Product Designer

We are looking for a product designer that is experienced in design and product development. Since our product is primarily an aesthetically pleasing interior design product, we need an adept product designer on our team.